Monday, February 11, 2013

Joey MacDonalad -- What could it mean?

Joey MacDonalad -- What could it mean?

Most people seem to think there is a trade coming. I am not necessarily of the same opinion. The waiver claim of the Red Wing vet seems odd, and it begs the question: "Is Kipper's injury long-term?" The Flames have denied again and again that the injury is serious, but why else would they sign MacDonald?

I understand that people have jumped to the conclusion that there must be a deal in the works, but think -- in reality, what assets are the Flames really willing to trade to get some value? Their assets are slim, outside Iggy, Gio, Kipper, JBo, and Glencross. And the only way one of those players are going, is if the Flames are giving up this season. I think it is a tad early to do that.

Unless the Flames are willing to trade Sven or Brodie, upon which I would personally lead a mob to the 'dome, the only other players to consider are:

Tangs, who would bring a decent return, but he has been the best forward on the team,

Cammy, but no-one would be willing to take that contract on, and

Lee Stempniak, but without him the Flames would not have any offense at all; taking his 5 goals away would lead to the Flames losing every game for the rest of the season.

On the defense, the Flames have 8 roster spots, a tad too many; but again, the problem is that four of them are pretty much untouchable, There is no way the Flames should be willing to part with Wideman, JBo, Brodie, or Gio. The defense is the foundation of this team; we can't just trade the top four. Even though we have a very strong top four, our depth in the system is... well... weak. Sarich is a soldier of epic proportions. Smith is adequate at best. These players could get us mid-level picks or mid-level prospects. The best asset we have seems to be Chris Butler, who I feel is a solid young stay-home dman who still has tons of potential. Chris could get use a solid third line centre who would be a number 2 centre on this team,

Packaging Butler with one of the untouchables may very well get us a 2 line centre, but the problem is that we would still have 4 goalies, which really leads me to think that the Kipper situation is more serious than people think. Unless the Flames are shopping Butler and Irving as a package. Right now, who would be willing take a gamble on Irving, who is the last year of his contract and has not proven himself?

As I am writing this, TSN Bob McKenzie is tweeting that Kippper is skating and if all goes well he could play on Wednesday. Which begs another question: "What does that mean to Irving's position? Can the Flames actually be giving up on him after 2 games?" There are many questions. People are waiting, but it does not necessarily mean that there is a trade imminent.

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